Critical Essay by John Cronin

In the following excerpt, Cronin analyzes several of Gerald Griffin's novels, demonstrating Griffin's interest in and deep compassion for the Irish peasantry. Cronin argues that while Griffin's work is often flawed by melodrama, he nevertheless paints disturbing and realistic portraits of the wretched conditions endured by Irish peasants.

In 1829 Griffin published, in addition to The Collegians, another three-volume work containing two stories of about equal length, The Rivals and Tracy's Ambition. Both make clear his growing interest in and profound compassion for the wretched state of the Irish peasantry. In spite of the intrusive melodrama of The Rivals, both that story and its companion piece give a memorably realistic picture of the grim world inhabited by the Irish peasant of the first...